Norwegian curlers "made a splash when they made the sheet of curling ice their runway" at the '10 Vancouver Games, and with the Norwegians back for the Sochi Games, "so are their pants," according to Mary Pilon of the N.Y. TIMES. This year, there are "at least two new pairs" of the pants, one that is a "zigzag homage to Norway’s flag and one that’s black and flowery and could be called grandmother-chic." Designers from California-based Loudmouth and the team for the last year "have been working on their highly anticipated line for Sochi." Loudmouth Founder Scott Woodworth said that the designs were "intended to be tributes to Norway, but they also had to look good on television." The company "made the team’s Vancouver pants and subsequently came on board as a sponsor." Designers "avoided white so the pants would not be lost on the ice." But they "did not want the plain black that has been a ubiquitous part of curlers’ gear for generations." Woodworth said, "They needed to be Norway colors. They needed to look good and be striking." Members of the curling team said that the pants "improved their performance" in Vancouver, where they won a Silver Medal. Each player's closet now is "a rainbow of 80 to 90 pairs of loud pants." There are "rules to go with the pants." One is that they "all wear the same pants together as a team, never alone" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/22). Norway coach Pal Trulsen said of the pants, "You'll not see me wearing them. Except maybe at a bad-taste party or something" (AP, 1/22).
STANDING OUT FROM THE PACK: The Norwegian curling team yesterday appeared on FS1’s “Crowd Goes Wild” to discuss their new uniforms for the Sochi Games. When asked whose idea it was to wear flashy colors at the Vancouver games, curler Christoffer Svae said, “I’m guilty there. If you’ve been watching curling, all the teams have black pants when they play. We decided that we want some more color, so we went online and bought four pairs of pants in a crazy color pattern, the one that looks like checks that we wore in the last Olympics.” Svae added, “We stepped out in these pants and after that we spoke to the media for two hours or so and we knew we couldn’t go back to the black after that so the last four years have been history” (“Crowd Goes Wild,” FS1, 1/21). The outfits also were a hot topic on the morning talk shows today, with ABC's Lara Spencer noting they are "already buzzing online." Spencer: "This is all about style, this is about fashion" ("GMA," ABC, 1/22). NBC's Tamron Hall said the clothing pattern is "going to disorient the competition." NBC's Al Roker: "We've got to get us some of these" ("Today," NBC, 1/22).
